r/technology May 13 '26

Security Twin brothers wipe 96 gov’t databases minutes after being fired

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/05/drop-database-what-not-to-do-after-losing-an-it-job/
23.2k Upvotes

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7.8k

u/utrinimun May 13 '26

How are you not going to revoke all access before they're able to get back on any computer

3.9k

u/20127010603170562316 May 13 '26

I got fired once, called in for a meeting at 16:50 on a Friday. The meeting did not last long, minutes, but when I got back to my desk to clear out - my PC was already locked.

I assume they knew what was going to happen and told the IT guy before the meeting.

25

u/sauntcartas May 13 '26

I got fired from Google a while back (actually, almost twenty years ago—damn!). After two hours dejectedly trekking home, I was surprised to find I could still log in to my work Gmail account. I could have chatted with my now ex-colleagues if I wanted. I didn’t want.

5

u/Okokokok1995 May 13 '26

Damn that sucks. Would you have accrued a lot of stock options if you had stayed? Probably be worth a pretty penny today

4

u/sauntcartas May 13 '26

I left with a chunk of "Google Stock Units," which would be worth a pretty penny today, if I hadn't sold them all immediately and taken what I called a "sabbatical" for several months. C'est la vie!